Labor head calls on PM to probe Israeli official who worked with Manafort

Labor Party leader Avi Gabbay calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to open an investigation into an unnamed senior Israeli official who allegedly worked with Paul Manafort, US President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, to spread accusations of anti-Semitism by an Ukrainian opposition leader.

“It can’t be that an incident like this passes through our hands without being dealt with and it can’t be that we accept that someone in the service in the state works for foreign actors, whether for payment or not,” Gabbay, who heads the opposition Zionist Union faction, writes on his Twitter account.

The involvement of a senior Israeli official in Manafort’s work for former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was revealed in court documents filed Friday as part of a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential campaign.

Netanyahu suggests lowering electoral threshold after raising it just 4 years ago

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggests lowering the electoral threshold for a party to enter the Knesset to 2.75 percent, after it was raised by a government he headed just four years ago.

“I’m raising the possibility of lowering the electoral threshold by half a percent. This must be with the agreement of everyone. Without such agreement we won’t move forward on the matter,” Netanyahu tells coalition leaders, according to a statement from the Likud party.

The threshold was raised from 2% to 3.25% in 2014, preventing smaller parties that don’t gather the requisite number of votes from entering the Knesset.

Critics at the time argued the move was meant to prevent Arab parties that barely pass the threshold from being elected, while supporters said it would inject stability into Israel’s fractious coalition politics.

With a number of his coalition partners hovering around the electoral threshold in polls, lowering it could help Netanyahu cobble together another government following the next elections, which are currently scheduled for November 2019.

Hamas praises deadly West Bank stabbing attack

A spokesman for the Hamas terror group praises the deadly stabbing attack in the West Bank earlier today.

“We bless the stabbing operation in Bethlehem that took place in parallel to our people’s sacrifices in the marches of return and that affirms the continuation of our people’s Jerusalem intifada and its legitimate right in practicing resistance against the occupation in all of its forms,” Hamas spokesman Abdelatif al-Qanou writes on his Facebook account.

According to the Israeli military, a 17-year-old Palestinian from Yatta, a village south of Hebron, fatally stabbed an Israeli man at the Gush Etzion Junction in the central West Bank.

The man, who subsequently succumbed to his wounds at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, was later identified as 45-year-old Ari Fuld of the nearby settlement of Efrat.

Former US envoy condemns deadly West Bank terror stabbing

Former US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro condemns the fatal stabbing attack in the West Bank earlier today and sends his condolences to the victim’s family.

Deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Ari Fuld, murdered in Gush Etzion today. The attack was an outrageous act of terrorism, which should be loudly condemned by all. May Ari's memory be a blessing and a source of comfort to his family and community.

US envoy mourns Israeli-American killed in West Bank terror stabbing

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman mourns the death of Ari Fuld, an Israeli-American killed earlier today in a terror stabbing in the West Bank.

America grieves as one of its citizens was brutally murdered by a Palestinian terrorist. Ari Fuld was a passionate defender of Israel & an American patriot. He represented the best of both countries & will be deeply missed. May his family be comforted & his memory be blessed.

The family of a Palestinian teenager who fatally stabbed an Israeli-American man in the West Bank warned Israeli security forces ahead of the attack.

The mother of the assailant, who was named by media as 17-year-old Khalil Jabarin, showed up at the Meitar Crossing in the southern West Bank just before the stabbing and told soldiers she was worried he may carry out an attack but didn’t know where, Channel 10 news reports.

Jabarin’s grandfather also says the family warned Palestinian and Israeli security forces after the teenager did not come to school this morning.

17-year-old Khalil Jabarin, who fatally stabbed an Israeli in a West Bank settlement on September 16, 2018 (Screenshot/Twitter)

Lawyer says Israel to deport French-US professor arrested at West Bank village

A lawyer for a French-American university professor who was arrested during a protest at a West Bank Bedouin village set to be razed says she was told by police he’ll be deported from Israel.

“Live thieves in the night, instead of brining Frank Romano to a hearing scheduled at 4:00 p.m. in Jerusalem for my request to release from custody, without informing me or the court the police transferred him to immigration [authorities] to be deported,” Gaby Lasky writes on Twiter.

“Now it is clear why they arrested him under military law — in order to give themselves time to deport [Romano] before he sees a judge,” she adds.

Romano was arrested Friday during scuffles between Israeli forces and demonstrators at Khan Al-Ahmar, whose pending demolition has been condemned by the Palestinians and the European Union.

Israeli border police arrest American university professor Frank Romano in the West Bank Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar on September 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File)

Incendiary balloons from Gaza spark 3 fires in south

Incendiary balloons launched from the Gaza Strip spark three fires in the Be’eri forest in southern Israel, a spokesperson for the Fire and Rescue Services says.

The flying of flaming airborne devices toward Israel has become a commonly used tactic in months-long clashes along the Gaza border, though the frequency of launches has significantly decreased of late.

US peace envoy Jason Greenblatt mourns the death of Ari Fuld, an American-Israeli, who was fatally stabbed earlier today in a terror attack in the West Bank.

Words cannot express our feeling of loss as an American-Israeli, Ari Fuld, was stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist. In Ari's last breaths, he heroically immobilized the terrorist, saving many other lives. Our thoughts and prayers are with Ari's family & his loved ones.

Three soldiers are lightly injured by rocks thrown at them by Palestinians during clashes that broke out after the bus in which they were traveling entered the Palestinian city of Qalandiya in the central West Bank, the army says.

The one female officer and two male soldiers have been taken to the hospital for treatment. There are no immediate reports of Palestinian injuries.

The army says it is investigating why the bus entered the Palestinian city.

Once inside Qalandiya, the bus was quickly surrounded and local residents began throwing rocks at it. In response, IDF troops fired gunshots into the air to break up the crowd.

Liberman freezes establishment of military parole board for terror convicts

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman announces he will freeze the establishment of an IDF parole board for Palestinians given life sentences by West Bank military courts.

A statement from Liberman’s office says he will hold a “comprehensive discussion” on the matter with the IDF, top military prosecutor and the legal adviser for the defense establishment.

Earlier today, Liberman vowed to block the early release of convicted Palestinian terrorists after the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported the IDF would soon publicize details of an order to set up the parole board, which would require a change in the law.

Liberman’s opposition to shortening the sentences of Palestinians serving life sentences for terror charges was later echoed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Liberman said to ask for US to reveal Israeli official who worked with Manafort

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has asked Israel’s justice minister to formally request that the US reveal the name of an Israeli official who allegedly worked with US President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager to spread accusations of anti-Semitism against an Ukrainian opposition leader, Hadashot TV news reports.

The involvement of a senior Israeli official in Manafort’s work for former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was revealed in court documents filed Friday, as part of a plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential campaign.

The Haaretz daily reports it was told by Mueller’s team that it cannot reveal the identity of the Israeli official, as the individual in question has not been charged with a crime and therefore cannot be named.

Liberman has strongly denied speculation he was the Israeli official who worked with Manafort after reports noted a 2012 statement issued when he was foreign minister making similar allegations of anti-Semitism against Yulia Tymoshenko, as those US court documents said Manafort helped spread.

3 Palestinians arrested for stoning IDF bus that entered West Bank city

Border Police officers arrest three Palestinian men suspected of taking part in a riot in the Qalandiya refugee camp in which three IDF soldiers and one border guard were lightly injured after the bus they were travelling in entered the refugee camp.

According to the Border Police, one of the suspects was from Qalandiya, another from nearby Ramallah, while the third did not have identification papers in his possession at the time of his arrest.

The wounded Israeli troops were taken to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center for treatment, a spokesperson for the hospital says.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas affirmed the Palestinians’ commitment to achieving peace and peaceful protest in a meeting with former Israeli lawmakers, the official PA news site Wafa reports.

Abbas welcomed a delegation of past Israeli lawmakers to the PA presidential headquarters in Ramallah Sunday evening, including former Justice Minister Yossi Beilin.

“The president of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas affirmed the Palestinian side’s commitment to achieving peace and peaceful, popular resistance because killing, settlements, destroying and uprooting people will not achieve peace and security for any party in the region,” the Wafa report says.

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